Ashes | Twitter in awe as Starc builds up on his immortal with dreamy diving stunner to hand Crawley pair

England completed their first innings Australian demolition at the Perth Stadium on Saturday by scalping the only remaining wicket from Day 1 to take a healthy 40-run first innings lead heading into their second bat. A steep task awaited them with the pitch playing hostile, and a certain Mitchell Starc holding the new ball in his hand after scalping a career-best seven in the first dig, which included five of the seven English specialist batters. Zak Crawley as usual fronted up to take guard, still looking for his first run of the series after enduring a six-ball duck the previous morning, and the ensuing battle did not disappoint.

Starc began with three balls outside off to Crawley, who let two of them go and confidently drove one albeit without any results. The Aussie veteran had his setup in place and teased the punchline with one on Crawley's pads with just enough swing to draw the leading edge that nearly carried all the way down the deck to Starc. The 35-year-old then nailed the final blow by going a hint straighter, tempting Crawley into a drive only for the Kookaburra to hit the top of his bat and float in the air towards his partner Ben Duckett. However, Starc was on the other end of the crease in his follow through and the half-chance seemed destined to go begging -- until in an exhibit og athletic brilliance, the quick let go off his footing to throw himself at the Kookaburra and somehow held onto it mid-air at full-strech with one hand, while ensuring the red cherry did not graze the ground any time.

Starc was unsurprisingly ecstatic as he wheeled away in celebration while Crawley began a long trot back to the pavillion, the five-ball duck confirming a forgettable pair for the English opener. 

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